CVE-2008-1835
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedClamAV before 0.93 allows remote attackers to bypass the scanning enging via a RAR file with an invalid version number, which cannot be parsed by ClamAV but can be extracted by Winrar.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceClamAV versions before 0.93 contain a vulnerability in RAR archive parsing where files with invalid version numbers cause the scanner to fail to analyze the file contents. While ClamAV cannot parse these malformed RAR files and skips them, standard extraction tools like WinRAR can still extract the contents, allowing embedded malicious payloads to bypass antivirus detection.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 0.92.1= 0.15= 0.20= 0.21= 0.22= 0.23= 0.24= 0.51= 0.52= 0.53= 0.54= 0.60CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Determine installed ClamAV versionRun `clamscan --version` or `clamd --version` or check your package manager for the installed clamav package versionAffected if The version output is 0.15, 0.20, 0.21, 0.22, 0.23, 0.24, 0.51, 0.52, 0.53, 0.54, 0.60, or any version <= 0.92.1
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Verify RAR support is enabledCheck if the unrar utility is installed on the system or if ClamAV's RAR plugin is loaded. On Linux, check for `/usr/bin/unrar` or examine ClamAV configuration files for RAR-related settingsAffected if RAR support (unrar or RAR plugin) is installed and active on the system
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Confirm RAR archive scanning is performedReview your ClamAV scanning configuration or cron jobs to determine if RAR archives are being scanned. Check if your scheduled scans or on-demand scans include RAR file typesAffected if Scans include RAR archive files as part of regular or on-demand antivirus scanning
You are affected if your installed ClamAV version matches one of the affected versions (0.15, 0.20-0.24, 0.51-0.54, 0.60, or <=0.92.1) AND your system uses ClamAV to scan RAR archives, because malformed RAR files with invalid version numbers will be skipped without content inspection.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade ClamAV to version 0.93 or later to obtain the fixed RAR parsing engine that properly handles invalid version numbers.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-1835 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-1835 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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